Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi

I was adjusting the front bearing end float this morning on the o/s front wheel and noticed this:



It's the gap in the rubber bush at the top of the shock absorber that concerns me. I did try to tighten the locking nuts but they are already full thread. In this picture, the car is on a jack so the front suspension is fully extended downwards. However, when I lifted it I could see play in the bush.

Is this normal? Could I tighten it up with a washer or two under the lock nuts?

Try looking in your official shop or parts manual. There is a picture of the assembly.

There should be a big fat bush inside the turret top and no slack.

Don't feel bad. Mine look like this.

Jon and Veg - my front strut to turret bushes are similarly wasted. Have you completed replacement? How did you manage the springs?

I haven't changed mine (yet), but I hear that ratchet straps are very good for compressing these springs.

You don't need to compress the springs if all you're doing is changing the bushes. The whole thing comes off as one unit.

JonB wrote:I haven't changed mine (yet), but I hear that ratchet straps are very good for compressing these springs.

As I recall, that applies to the rear springs but not the front ones, as mentioned the front damper and spring come off as one unit; you only release the spring tension if you want to remove/renovate the damper.

Right, the front spring & damper came off as a unit. I looked at the WSM to get the sequence of bits correct when re-assembling, as a PO had used some incorrect bits.

Mine look like this

Is that a gap inside the turret top?
I've not seen rubber bump stops on a front spring before or is that because mine are inside a 'shroud?
Thinking about it I could do without that because it ru s the spring at speed humps and makes a terrible noise.
I must look more closely.

They are Spax shocks that I fitted about 20 years ago although the car has never been back on the road since then. They came with adjustable seats and those bump stops. The spacer at the top was also provided.

They look neat.

They look exactly the same as my new this year Spax, including the spacer and the bump stop.